Success stories of geospatial users highlighted

Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia: With increasing pervasiveness of geospatial technologies, organisations across the region are adapting these technologies and implementing projects successfully. Several such case studies were showcased at the Geospatial User Forum on the second day of Map Asia 2010 – ISG 2010.

Discussing the land reform initiatives in the Philippines, Warlito G Quirmit, Chief, Tenure Security Unit, Project Coordination Office, Dept of Environment and Natural Resources, Philippines enumerated the long term commitment of the Philippines government to alleviate poverty and enhance growth by improving security of land tenure and fostering efficient land market. The Land Administration and Management Project (LAMP), which started in 2001, works in this direction. Several policy reforms to bring all agencies providing land services together too are underway, Warlito said.

The application and benefits of geospatial technologies in Brunei Shell Petroleum were discussed by Junit Zakaria, Head of Geomatics. He said that geospatial technologies are being used across the full lifecycle of EP business by delivering value and cost leadership through innovative acquisition, integration, management and delivery of geographic information. Dongwoo Jang, Director-GIS Division, Seoul Metropolitan Government detailed the Seoul GIS portal system, which is a spatial data warehouse and a one-stop GIS portal service for the public. Greg Van Gaans, GIS Enterprise Architect, Department of Transport, Energy and Infrastructure (DTEI), Australia disclosed the GIS strategy of DTEI. Gary Maguire, Manager, Business and Location Intelligence Business Technology, Department for Families and Communities, Australia described the several initiatives by his department in improving the service delivery through location intelligence. Asset IQ is a GIS portal for urban redevelopment. This aims to research, analyse and plan future development sites, he said. Nungg wali Spatial, Map IQ and Community IQ are the other projects of the department which are successfully using location intelligence to aid community development.

PG Diwakar, Scientist and Associate Director, Earth Observation System, ISRO, detailed the Sujala watershed development project executed on a pilot basis in Karnataka state of India. This World Bank-funded project utilises an entire gamut of geospatial technologies to develop watersheds in a participatory mode and to intensify farming system and income generating activities. The success of this project has led to this project being implemented by several other states in India, Diwakar said. Telekom Malaysia, another major user of geospatial technologies is actively working on the Malaysia Emergency Response System (MERS). This aims to automate emergency call taking and dispatching via single nation hotline number – 999. MERS 999 consolidates the services of public safety and security agencies like police, fire and rescue, civil defence and hospitals, according to Ir. Rozinah Anas, Project Director-MERS 999. Another project in the pipeline for Telekom Malaysia is the Putrajaya augmented reality 3D maps. The success stories of active users served as eye opener to many and a measure of the extent of geospatial usage in the region.